PleXBMC Help

[Snowman09]

I have a more than capable desktop that has my Plex server on it; however, when I try to stream the movies to Kodi (or the Plex app) on my HTPC the movie starts to play and then says the cache is full/freezes and flickers the word cache/caching. I keep looking online to figure out what I need to do, but I haven't had any luck. This is probably a noob problem, but I would like to have it figured out asap and I'm still new to the whole streaming/transcoding world (trying Plex and Kodi for the first time).

Thanks for any help!

 

[Binky]

I'm sure I won't know the answer, but I know the questions that others might ask: What host OS on the client box? What network connection? Can you play the movie without Plex (i.e. direct through Kodi, without the plex server)? What codec (unlikely to matter based on system specs in your other post)?

I would start by confirming that the move can play without the Plex server in the middle.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Will the file play in Kodi when it is copied to the local disk of your HTPC? If so you got a network issue.

If you are trying to stream HD content over wireless it needs to be 5GHz N or AC.

 

[Snowman09]

The host and the HTPC are both windows and I found out that the cache on the web app (HTPC) was set at 10%. I bumped it up and the videos load much better and my CPU's usage finally goes up. While running Kodi, the Host computer doesn't recognize Plex running (as I'm guess it's due to Plex running in the background). I have the N router from fios and plenty Up/Down too. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to get host to recognize the PleXBMC. All the movies work so far.
Thanks for the responses!

 

[Binky]

I'm not a huge fan of the Plexmbc setup. It's an odd duck. Depending on your needs, you can possibly get the same thing or better by just using the Emby server and client. Emby is easier to setup and you get all of the same/similar centralized management, scraping, and transcoding functions. On the other hand, Kodi is MUCH more configurable, but that makes it more complicated. On Windows, you can use either the WMC Emby client (my preference), or the standalone Emby Theater client. Emby is catching up to Plex in the number of client options, including phones, smart TV's, etc.

If you're looking for the crazy assortment of addons, some of questionable legality, then Kodi is the way to go. If you want something easier and just as powerful (sans illegal streaming options), check out Emby. Of the major three players, Plex by itself is the simplest and most restrictive, then Emby, then Kodi. To me, mashing the Plex backend into Kodi just makes it into a wanna-be Emby. They each have their place.

Is your source material streamed from the web, or located on the server? Wireless streaming of local content never works well for me.

 

[Snowman09]

I'm not a huge fan of the Plexmbc setup. It's an odd duck. Depending on your needs, you can possibly get the same thing or better by just using the Emby server and client. Emby is easier to setup and you get all of the same/similar centralized management, scraping, and transcoding functions. On the other hand, Kodi is MUCH more configurable, but that makes it more complicated. On Windows, you can use either the WMC Emby client (my preference), or the standalone Emby Theater client. Emby is catching up to Plex in the number of client options, including phones, smart TV's, etc.

If you're looking for the crazy assortment of addons, some of questionable legality, then Kodi is the way to go. If you want something easier and just as powerful (sans illegal streaming options), check out Emby. Of the major three players, Plex by itself is the simplest and most restrictive, then Emby, then Kodi. To me, mashing the Plex backend into Kodi just makes it into a wanna-be Emby. They each have their place.

Is your source material streamed from the web, or located on the server? Wireless streaming of local content never works well for me.

It's local and I guess I've just been lucky in that regards. I'll check out Emby then. Is it free? I just want a relatively intuitive interface for the girlfriend hahaha.

 

[Aikouka]

Hm, I didn't even know that there was a PleXBMC, but this interests me since XBMC/Kodi is the only way to easily interact with SiliconDust's DVR service. Also, given that the Plex client is still kind of buggy at times (it'll crash every few days -- usually with anime), this can't really be any worse.

It's local and I guess I've just been lucky in that regards. I'll check out Emby then. Is it free? I just want a relatively intuitive interface for the girlfriend hahaha.

Emby is a lot like Plex in regard to its pricing. There's the free version and the paid service. Although, last I checked, Emby is in a discount phase since the software is still pretty new.

 

[zambien1]

For a while I moved between Plex/PlexHT and Kodi.

Kodi won for me in the end. If you are an android user you can buy the premium version of Yatse (the Kodi remote) and you can stream Kodi content to your Android devices and control kodi playback on your TV, computer, etc. The great thing about Kodi is that you generally don't have to worry about transcoding. Kodi will play pretty much anything and so will most Android devices with MX Player and the custom codec. I pretty much use Yatse/Kodi for everything now.

I only use plex when I'm outside my network so that I can change streaming quality.

 

[Snowman09]

Yeah I feel like an idiot. I completely forgot about the UPnP

 

[poofyhairguy]

For a while I moved between Plex/PlexHT and Kodi.

Kodi won for me in the end. If you are an android user you can buy the premium version of Yatse (the Kodi remote) and you can stream Kodi content to your Android devices and control kodi playback on your TV, computer, etc. The great thing about Kodi is that you generally don't have to worry about transcoding. Kodi will play pretty much anything and so will most Android devices with MX Player and the custom codec. I pretty much use Yatse/Kodi for everything now.

I only use plex when I'm outside my network so that I can change streaming quality.